As Senior Director of Government Affairs for PEPSICO, Lupe De La Cruz manages political and public policy activities for eight states in the western region of the United States. In its global portfolio of food and beverage brands, PepsiCo has 22 different brands that generate more than $1 billion each in annual retail sales. With net revenues of over $65 billion, PepsiCo’s main businesses also make hundreds of other enjoyable foods and beverages that are respected household names throughout the world.
Lupe represents PEPSICO’s diverse convenient food and beverages portfolio with policy makers and community leaders and directs PEPSICO’s community engagement in those states. With a cross divisional team, Lupe supports PEPSICO’s national initiatives in the Latino community. He joined PEPSICO in 2005 and is most proud of his role in fostering relationships with the communities he works in.
Lupe’s interest in government affairs began working on several political campaigns and grassroots mobilization; a product of following his father to many political and campaign rallies as a youth. His passion for public policy issues was cemented while working in the office of Congressman Esteban E. Torres and later as Advocacy Director of the AARP California State office. While at AARP, with a cadre of volunteer activist and dedicated professional staff, he developed legislative strategies that led to the enactment of over a dozen consumer protection bills ranging in policy areas from healthcare and financial privacy to home owner protections and long-term care.
Originally from the Greater Los Angeles area, Lupe graduated from UCLA with a degree in Political Science. As an undergraduate he served as a reserve deputy with the County of Los Angeles Juvenile Probation Department. He ran a literacy program in the juvenile probation camps and later managed caseloads in the Gang Alternative and Prevention Program.
Currently, Lupe serves on the Board of Directors of LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, which celebrates and cultivates an appreciation for the enduring and evolving influence of Mexican and Mexican-American culture, with a specific focus upon the unique Mexican-American experience in Los Angeles and Southern California. He also serves on the Advisory Boards of the California Latino Caucus Institute, the National Council of La Raza and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. He served six years on the Board of the Chicano Latino Youth Leadership Conference, which sends 120 high school students to Sacramento for a week long of intensive leadership training. He resides with his wife, Yadira Tovar De La Cruz, son, Lupito, and daughter, Elizabeth, in Frisco, Texas.

Katharine Gin is cofounder and executive director of EDUCATORS FOR FAIR CONSIDERATION, a San-Francisco based nonprofit whose mission is to empower undocumented young people to achieve their academic and career goals and actively contribute to society. Since 2006, E4FC has addressed the holistic needs of undocumented young people through direct support, leadership development, community outreach, creative expression, and advocacy.
Katharine is the proud descendant of Chinese immigrants, who first came to the U.S. in the 1860s to work in the gold mines of California and later during the restrictive Chinese Exclusion Acts. She was born and raised in San Francisco, and received her BA from Yale University and MFA from the University of Oregon.
For nearly 20 years, Katharine has worked to enhance arts and education opportunities for low-income and minority youth. She has developed innovative programs in schools, housing projects, and detention facilities. Her artistic and educational work with youth has been exhibited and published widely in college textbooks, literary anthologies, magazines, and national newspapers, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, and The Harvard Educational Review.
Outside of her work with E4FC, Katharine serves on the Leadership Committee of the California Immigrant Policy Center (CIPC), the National Advisory Board of TheDream.US, and is an advisor to the Nelson Fund at The Silicon Valley Community Foundation, where she has overseen the fund’s philanthropic investments in arts and education since 2001. She is also the proud mother of Anna Dido Nordeson and partner to Kjell Nordeson.

Don Graham is Chairman of the Graham Holdings Company (previously The Washington Post). His family published The Washington Post from 1946 until 2013.

After graduating in 1966 from Harvard College, Graham served as an information specialist with the 1st Cavalry Division in Vietnam and upon his return, worked as a patrolman with the Washington Metropolitan Police Department.

Graham joined The Washington Post newspaper in 1971 as a reporter and subsequently held several news and business positions at the newspaper, including publisher and chairman of the Board. Today, he serves as the chairman of Graham Holdings Company.

Don co-founded and served as chairman of the District of Columbia College Access Program that has helped double the number of DC public high school students going on to college and has helped triple the number graduating from college. He remains a member of the DC-CAP board. Since its inception, DC-CAP has assisted over 23,000 DC students enroll in college and has provided scholarships totaling more than $33 million.

Upon learning of the plight of undocumented students with no access to college, Graham co-founded TheDream.US, a national scholarship fund for DREAMers, created to help undocumented immigrant youth get access to a college education.

Graham is a trustee of the Federal City Council. He also served as a director of the College Success Foundation, KIPP-DC, The Summit Fund of Washington, Facebook, and was a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board.

Carlos Gutierrez is Chair of Albright Stonebridge Group (ASG). Secretary Gutierrez served as U.S. Secretary of Commerce from 2005 to 2009 under President George W. Bush, where he worked with foreign government and business leaders to advance economic relationships, enhance trade, and promote U.S. exports.
Previously, Secretary Gutierrez spent nearly thirty years with Kellogg Company, a global manufacturer and marketer of well-known food brands. After assignments in Latin America, Canada, Asia, and the United States, he became President and Chief Executive Officer of Kellogg in 1999 − the youngest CEO in the company’s hundred-year history. In April 2000, he was named Chairman of the Board of Kellogg Company.

Secretary Gutierrez joined ASG from Citi, where he was Vice Chairman of the Institutional Clients Group and a member of the Senior Strategic Advisory Group.
Secretary Gutierrez was born in Havana, Cuba. He is married to Edilia, and has three grown children.

Cristina Jiménez is a co-founder and the Managing Director of United We Dream. She served as chair of the Board of Directors and transitioned to staff in 2011. Cristina has organized immigrant youth and workers for the passage of the DREAM Act, comprehensive immigration reform, and pro-immigrant legislation at the local and national level since 2004.
She co-founded the New York State Youth Leadership Council, was an immigration policy analyst for the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy and an immigrant rights organizer at the Latin American Integration Center, now merged as Make the Road New York. Cristina’s immigration policy work has been published in the American Prospect, El Diario, and the Huffington Post. Cristina was recently named among Forbes “30 under 30 in Law and Policy”, the “21 immigration reform power players” and one of 5 non-profit leaders who will influence public policy in 2013 by the Chronicle of Philanthropy.
She holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the School of Public of Affairs at Baruch College, CUNY and graduated Cum Laude with a B.A. in Political Science and Business from Queens College, CUNY. Originally from Quito, Ecuador, Cristina came to the U.S. with her family at the age of 13, attending high school and college as an undocumented student.

Georgia is the Executive Director of The Pershing Square Foundation, where she partners with the President to oversee the Foundation’s strategy and programs. She is responsible for the social entrepreneurship portfolio and the creation of new initiatives. Georgia joined The Pershing Square Foundation from New America, where she directed the program on Profits and Purpose. She is also a professor in the Social Enterprise Program at Columbia Business School and author of Social Entrepreneurship for the 21st Century (2013) and Capital and the Common Good: How Innovative Finance is Tackling the World’s Most Urgent Problems (Fall 2016).
Georgia’s career has bridged the private and nonprofit sectors. A former McKinsey consultant, she has advised companies, philanthropies, community development and educational organizations, and think tanks. From 2011-2014, Georgia was a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, where she worked on poverty and inequality, employment and job growth, and social entrepreneurship. She has taught at Yale, and serves on the boards of several nonprofit organizations.
Georgia holds a B.A. from Yale University, an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and an M.Sc. from London School of Economics, where she was a Fulbright Scholar.

Henry R. Muñoz III is a nationally respected voice in the discourse about the imprint of Latino culture and identity upon American Society in the 21st Century. A Designer, Social Activist, Opinion Leader and Philanthropist, Muñoz works across multiple platforms that converge at the intersection of politics and the built environment. As Chairman of the Board and Chief Creative Officer of Muñoz & Company, Mr. Muñoz leads one of the largest and oldest minority-owned design practices in the country. Under the three decades of his leadership, Muñoz & Company has pioneered an approach to architecture and design that acknowledges the rapidly shifting demographics of the United States.

In January 2013 Mr. Muñoz was appointed Finance Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, the first minority or openly gay citizen to hold such a position for an American political party. In this role, he leads the effort to erase a $35 million dollar debt and has raised over $75 million dollars in resources for The Democratic Party and its candidates, up and down the ballot.

Mr. Muñoz’s life and career has been to illuminate a more complete American story for the benefit of all people.

Jill Nishi currently serves as Director, Office of the President and Chief of Staff at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle, overseeing Special Initiative grant making and managing the overall operations for our United States Program. Jill has served in a number of leadership roles at the Gates Foundation, most recently as Senior Advisor in the Office of the President, and previously overseeing the management and research & evaluation functions for the foundation’s Postsecondary Success strategy which aims to increase the number of low-income young adults who complete a post-secondary credential. She also led the foundation’s U.S. Libraries Program, an initiative dedicated to bringing technology access to underserved communities through the nation’s public libraries.
Prior to joining the Gates Foundation, Jill served in several leadership positions in the public sector. She was appointed by Mayor Greg Nickels as director of the City of Seattle’s Office of Economic Development; and previously served as deputy director of the Washington State Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development. She also worked as a senior management consultant for Deloitte in the firm’s public sector practice.
Jill holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Puget Sound; and a master’s degree in public affairs from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the University of Puget Sound; and on the boards of the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience and U.S.-Japan Council.

An American by choice, Eduardo Padrón arrived in the United States as a refugee at age 15. Since 1995, he has served as President of Miami Dade College, a national model of student achievement and the largest institution of higher education in America, with more than 175,000 students.

An economist by training, Dr. Padrón earned his Ph.D. from the University of Florida. In 2009, Time magazine included him among the “10 Best College Presidents” in the United States; in 2010, Florida Trend magazine named him “Floridian of the Year”; and in 2011, The Washington Post recognized him as one of the eight most influential college presidents in the country. In addition, the Carnegie Corporation of New York granted him its prestigious Centennial Academic Leadership Award; he is the first college president to receive the National Citizen Service Award from Voices for National Service; he has been named an Ascend Fellow by the Aspen Institute; and he is the recipient of the Hesburgh Award, the highest honor in U.S. higher education.

During his career, Dr. Padrón has been selected to serve on posts of national prominence by six American Presidents. His energetic leadership extends to many of the nation’s leading organizations. He is the immediate past chair of the Board of Directors of the American Council on Education and a past Board chair of the Association of American Colleges and Universities.

Dr. Padrón is widely recognized as one of the top educational leaders in the world. He serves on the boards of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Business/Higher Education Forum, the League for Innovation (former chair), RC-2020, the College Board Advocacy and Policy Center, the White House Fellows Selection Panel (chair), and the International Association of University Presidents. He has held leadership positions on the American Academy of Arts & Sciences/Humanities Commission and on the boards of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, the Hispanic Association of Colleges & Universities (chair), the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Campus Compact, and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. He is also the immediate past Board Chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Miami Branch.

President Padrón’s transformational accomplishments at Miami Dade College have been acknowledged by the national media, including The New York Times, NBC Nightly News, Time magazine, The Wall Street Journal, CNN and The Chronicle of Higher Education. He has received some of the most prestigious awards in and out of academia and more than 15 honorary doctorates from leading universities such as Rollins, Princeton and Brown. He is also the recipient of highest honors by the governments of foreign nations, including France, which named him Commandeur in the Ordre des Palms Académiques; Argentina, which awarded him the Order of San Martin; and Spain, whose King Juan Carlos II bestowed upon him the Order of Queen Isabella.

Andrew S. Rosen is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Kaplan, Inc., among the largest, most diverse global education organizations and the largest subsidiary of The Washington Post Company. Throughout his career, Rosen has helped pioneer much of Kaplan’s innovation and growth, with a focus on student success and outcomes. These include the founding of Concord Law School, the first fully online law school in the U.S.; the development of Kaplan University; and the creation of new blended online and classroom-¬‐based learning opportunities for both working adults and test preparation students.
Rosen’s book Change.edu: Rebooting for the new talent economy details the history of American higher education and describes how to restore its pre-¬‐eminence by focusing on the goals of learning outcomes, access, affordability, and accountability. The book earned positive reviews in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Forbes, Fortune, and elsewhere. Bill Gates called it “truly important” for the debate about improving higher education; Joel Klein called it a “must-¬‐ read book.”
Rosen joined Kaplan in 1992, and was named Chairman and CEO in November 2008. Before Kaplan, he was an attorney at The Washington Post and associate counsel at Newsweek. Rosen holds an A.B. degree from Duke University and a J.D. from Yale Law School.

In 2009, Thomas A. Saenz returned to MALDEF as President and General Counsel. Previously, as Counsel to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Saenz served on the four-person executive team to the mayor, where he provided legal and policy advice on major initiatives. During his four-year tenure with the City of Los Angeles, Saenz helped to lead the legislative effort to change the governance of Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), and served for two years as the lead liaison on labor negotiations, with a goal of addressing serious financial challenges in partnership with the City’s workers.
Saenz previously practiced civil rights litigation at MALDEF for 12 years, including four years as Vice President of Litigation. He was MALDEF’s lead counsel in the successful challenge to California’s anti-immigrant Proposition 187, and he led numerous civil rights cases in the areas of immigrants’ rights, education, employment, and voting rights. Saenz achieved several victories against ordinances unlawfully restricting the rights of day laborers, served as lead counsel in the 2001 challenge to California’s congressional redistricting, and initiated the employment discrimination lawsuit resulting in a $50 million settlement with Abercrombie and Fitch. He also served as MALDEF’s lead counsel in two court challenges to Proposition 227, a California English-only education initiative. Saenz was also the lead drafter of the amicus brief on behalf of Latino organizations supporting affirmative action in the Supreme Court case of Grutter v. Bollinger.
Saenz currently serves as a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Education, the American Bar Association Commission on Hispanic Legal Rights and Responsibilities, and the U.S. Department of Education’s Equity and Excellence Commission. He also serves as steering committee co-chair of the California Civil Rights Coalition and on the boards of the Campaign for College Opportunity, ENCOMPASS, and the Impact Fund. He served on the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations for four years. For eight years, Saenz taught Civil Rights Litigation as an adjunct lecturer at the University of Southern California (USC) Law School.
Saenz has been recognized on numerous occasions for his work. He was selected as one of Hispanic Business Magazine’s “100 Most Influential Hispanics” in October 2009. Among many honors, he received the Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior (IME) Ohtli Award in 2006 and the 2010 Corazón Award from Univision.
Saenz was born and raised in southern California. He graduated summa cum laude from Yale University, and he received his law degree from Yale Law School. Saenz served as a law clerk to the Honorable Harry L. Hupp of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and to the Honorable Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Deborah A. Santiago is the co-founder, Chief Operating Officer and Vice President for Policy at EXCELENCIA IN EDUCATION. For more than 15 years, she has led research and policy efforts from the community to national and federal levels to improve educational opportunities and success for all students. She co-founded Excelencia in Education to inform policy and practice to accelerate Latino student success in higher education.

Her current work focuses on federal and state policy, financial aid, Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), and effective institutional practices for student success in higher education. She has been cited in numerous publications for her work, including The Economist, the New York Times, the Washington Post, AP, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. Deborah serves on the board of the National Student Clearinghouse and the advisory board of Univision’s Education Campaign.

Jose Antonio Vargas is an award-winning journalist, filmmaker, and the founder of Define American, a media and culture campaign that seeks to elevate the conversation around immigration and citizenship in a changing America.
In June 2011, the New York Times Magazine published a groundbreaking essay he wrote in which he revealed and chronicled his life in America as an undocumented immigrant, stunning media and political circles and attracting worldwide coverage. A year later, he appeared on the cover of TIME magazine internationally with fellow undocumented immigrants as part of a follow-up cover story. Since then, he has testified at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on immigration reform, and written and directed “Documented,” a documentary feature film on his undocumented experience. It world premiered as the centerpiece of the 2013 AFI Docs film festival in Washington, D.C. and will air on CNN in summer 2014.
He’s written for daily newspapers (Philadelphia Daily News, San Francisco Chronicle) and national magazines (The Atlantic, Rolling Stone) and was a senior contributing editor at the Huffington Post. At the Washington Post, he was part of the team that won a Pulitzer Prize for covering the Virginia Tech massacre, and his 2006 series on HIV/AIDS in Washington, D.C. inspired “The Other City,” a documentary feature film he co-produced and wrote. It world premiered at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival and aired on Showtime. That same year, he wrote an exclusive profile of Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg for the New Yorker.
He has appeared on several national and international television and radio programs, including Nightline, The O’Reilly Factor, and The Colbert Report.